Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys did it! We didn’t think they could do it, but they did it! In a game that went from excruciatingly painful to unbelievably exciting, the Cowboys pulled off the unthinkable, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. It was a crazy game that looked hopeless at first, but to the surprise of many, the resilience of the Cowboys went to a whole new level. Brian Schottenheimer came away with his biggest win to date and kept the Cowboys’ playoff hopes alive. Here are ten thoughts on the wild Cowboys comeback.
One couldn’t have scripted a worse start if they tried. The Cowboys’ offense got the ball to start the game, moved the ball to the 50-yard line, and then turned the ball over on downs. On their next possession, the offense went three-and-out. And then on their third possession, they appeared to be moving the ball, but coughed the ball up when KaVontae Turpin tripped and ran into the legs of his offensive lineman. In each of those instances, the Eagles took the ball and drove down the field and scored a touchdown. Just like that, it was 21-0. And if that wasn’t enough, the Cowboys’ offense took the ensuing drive all the way down to the one-yard line before Dak Prescott was picked off in the end zone. What was this mess we were watching? Football is stupid!
On the Eagles’ second possession of the game, it looked like they were going to go three-and-out after the Cowboys’ defense made the stop, but unfortunately, the Eagles got a fresh set of downs after the Cowboys were called for roughing the kicker. Ryan Flournoy pleaded to anyone who would listen on the sideline that he had gotten a piece of the ball, which would have negated a penalty, but the coaches wouldn’t listen. They didn’t throw the challenge flag, nor did they call a timeout to give them a better chance to look at it. When the game came back from commercial, the broadcast team showed a slo-mo replay clearly showing that Flournoy was telling the truth. The Cowboys botched a chance to retain possession of the ball by not challenging the play.
Things went so bad in the first half that it almost drove us to hysteria. And each time you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. Let’s recap…
All of this led to 21 points for the Eagles and no points for the Cowboys.
It’s so weird to say this, but the Cowboys’ defense was the hero in this game....
